UBS Group AG stood trial in Paris accused of harassing a pair of whistleblowers who lifted the lid on the bank's efforts to help wealthy French dodge taxes.
In a saga that's dragged on for more than 15 years, a French unit of the Swiss lender is accused of sidelining and slashing the bonus of former auditor Nicolas Forissier, who was penning a report that pointed to potentially unlawful behavior.
It's also accused of penalizing Stéphanie Gibaud, who helped authorities spy on clients at an event organized around the 2011 Roland-Garros tennis tournament.
As the trial opened on Tuesday, a representative for UBS took the stand to make a brief statement and deny any wrongdoing. Régis Turrini — currently chairman of the French branch — claimed that the "catastrophic" situation due to the financial crisis of 2007-2008 largely explains management decisions concerning Forissier.
For UBS, this month's Paris trial comes on top of a conviction for money laundering as part of a separate prosecution effort that stemmed in part from the Forissier report. That case isn't entirely finished for the Swiss bank after France's top court confirmed its guilt but said a €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) penalty UBS had received should be reexamined, opening the door to a possible cut.
Turrini should take the stand again on Wednesday for questioning from the judges. He wasn't at the bank at the time of the allegations. The French branch risks a maximum €75,000 ($78,941) fine for harassment.
On Tuesday, Forissier dismissed the notion that the difficult economic situation of UBS France — as it was called at the time — had anything to do with the bank's behavior toward him.
He told Paris judges that UBS's financial woes, which led to a Swiss bailout, were due to "huge mistakes" from the investment banking arm. "The wealth management side was making money and profitable globally," he said.
In the Gibaud part of this month's trial, the French branch of UBS Europe is accused of reducing the scope of her tasks as well as giving her a bad evaluation.
For years now, Gibaud, whose job entailed organizing events for wealthy clients, has been seeking recognition and reward from the government. She has received very little and in 2022 a court ruled that her disclosures to French tax officials weren't strong enough to warrant a big payout.
In June, Forissier was decorated during a ceremony after President Emmanuel Macron
During the Paris trial, the judges will also examine a further allegation that UBS's French unit sought to silence Forissier by tying severance pay to his signing of a confidentiality clause. Turrini also denied any such pressure — which is also punishable by a fine — was applied on the French unit's former audit manager.
The UBS France trial is due to last until mid next week, with a ruling expected several months later.
